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Mobile Ryzen Flexes Efficiency and Speed!!!

Posted 1 year ago

Dragonhunter281

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Top 250 Contributor

Coming off an immensely successful launch on the desktop, the Ryzen architecture has thoroughly dazzled with impressive multithreaded performance coupled with an affordable price tag. Having personally used the Ryzen 7 1700, I could not wait to see what Ryzen had in store for mobile devices. With the HP Envy X360, the Ryzen 5 2500U makes an impressive mobile debut, combining both efficiency and performance to power an outstanding laptop from HP. Once unboxed, the laptop itself has a gorgeous brushed finish and has a nice weight to it that added to its quality. Furthermore, it was actually a bit heavier than I expected, however, it is still the lightest laptop I have used personally. In addition, the display easily bended back without any resistance; no sound could be heard at the pivots of the display. Dimensions wise, the X360 sports a razor thin 0.8 inch frame that is sure to impress even with the laptop off. The craftsmanship is definitely top notch and atheistically it is amazingly sleek. As for connectivity, there are two USB 3.1 (Gen1) ports as well as one USB 3.1 (Gen 1) Type-C port. Additionally, there is one HDMI 2.0b, an SD slot, and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. In addition, I appreciated that they included an LED light for both the HDD activity and battery status. On the right hand side, there is a volume control button that I thought was quite handy. In addition, the included power adapter is extremely compact, especially given its square shape appearance. It definitely accompanies the sleekness of the laptop. Lastly, for upgrades as others have mentioned, there are two RAM slots that you can access as well as an M.2 slot for an SSD upgrade. However, I caution that you only attempt upgrades as long as you have the experience to do so.
For my benchmarks, I wanted to focus directly on an out of box experience. Thus, I wanted to keep any modifications of the laptop to a minimum, though I did have to make a few. I disabled all the non-Microsoft services and turned off OneDrive from starting up. I uninstalled the McAfee Internet Security (more details later), defragmented the hard drive, set the page file to its recommended size, and then cleaned the registry with CC Cleaner. Lastly, I changed the power plan to high performance and disabled all power saving features. I also changed the minimum and maximum processor state to 1% to 100% respectively. All benchmarks were executed while the laptop was connected to the power adapter. For CPU benchmarks, I used our only laptop that houses an i3-7100U as well as two of my custom built desktops that houses an older i7-3770K and lastly a more recent i5-7500. During all benchmarks, I monitored the thermals using HW Monitor.
For a multithreaded benchmark, I wanted to see how both the Ryzen 2500U and Vega 8 performed in relation to Intel's offering. Using 3D Mark, I ran the Cloud Gate Benchmark on a laptop that houses a i3-7100U as well as the HD 620 integrated graphics. In addition, I ran the same test on a desktop that houses an i5-7500 and the HD 630.
Ryzen/Vega 8 - Overall: 12,017/Graphics: 16,626 (74.08 FPS/70.58 FPS)/Physics: 6,100 (19.37 FPS)
i5-7500/HD 630 - Overall: 8,787/Graphics: 10,332 (46.02 FPS/43.80)/Physics: 5,780 (18.35 FPS)
i3-7100U/HD 620 - Overall: 5,681/Graphics: 8,000 (36.02 FPS/33.63 FPS)/Physics: 2,821 (8.96 FPS)
Immediately it is clear that the Ryzen 2500U and Vega 8 obliterates the competition. It performed well over expectations. The results are staggering! Temperatures hovered round 60-70 Celsius. Power consumption never exceeded 11 Watts and was well under its 15 Watt rated TDP. Comparatively, the i5-7500 consumed between 32-36 watts! Amazing! I would like affirm though that this test was specifically designed for laptops and mobile solutions. I caution that while you may be able to render some games playable on low settings, or even run older games, the Vega 8 GPU is still an integrated solution. Newer games will be difficult to run so keep your expectations reasonable. However, for what it is, the Vega 8 is a beast and really shines as an efficient mobile GPU solution.
For the second multithreaded benchmark, I decided to run an aggressive video encode using Handbrake 1.07. For my test, I encoded a 91 minute movie using the very fast 1080p preset. I set both the frame rate and audio equal to the source video. I ran the test on both our laptops.
Ryzen 2500U: 1 Hour 20 Minutes 6 Seconds (28.0 FPS)
i3: 7100U: 2 Hour 35 Minutes 0 Seconds (14.2 FPS)
As you can see, the Ryzen wins without trouble. During the test, the i3's power consumption hovered around 8 watts while the Ryzen never exceeded 11 watts. Although, while the i3 is only a dual core CPU (4 threads), it still gives you an idea where Ryzen will aggressively challenge other CPUs. It should directly challenge most of Intel's current i5 and i7 mobile offerings.
For a single threaded test, I used MusicBee 2.4 and LAME 3.99 to encode a 24 minute WAV file to MP3. The encoder was set to a constant bit rate of 320 and the internal algorithm was set to 0 for the highest quality (-q command). The test was ran three times per CPU. MusicBee's maximum encoding thread setting was set to one. In addition, I added my older i7-3770K to the test.
I5-7500: 1 Minute 49 Seconds/1 Minute 47 Seconds/1 Minute 47 Seconds
Ryzen 2500: 2 Minutes 0 Seconds/2 Minutes 1 Second/2 Minutes 0 Seconds
i7-3770K: 2 Minutes 6 Seconds/2 Minutes 6 Seconds/2 Minutes 6 Seconds
The results are quite staggering as the Ryzen 2500U managed to beat my older i7-3770K and comes relatively close to the more recent Kaby Lake i5-7500! It is completely unheard of to retain this much performance from a single mobile CPU, let alone actually beating my desktop's i7.
One of the main complaints of the X360 Envy is that HP included a 1 TB HGST 7200 RPM mechanical hard drive with the computer. However, the drive itself is not slow, but it is overworked by HP's cluttered windows installation on startup. On top of this, the hard drive is extremely fragmented (15%) right out of the box. Monitoring task manager, I noted that McAfee (ESET is a fabulous alternative) was one of a few processes that was holding the hard drive hostage at nearly 100% by reading/writing anywhere from a few hundred kilobytes up to 2- 5 megabytes. Once uninstalled, the laptop was immediately much more responsive. I even freed up about 12% of the RAM while doing so. Afterwards, you should notice a much lower and consistent drive usage. Periodically, there will be some hard usage spikes so I strongly recommend to keep an eye on task manager. To verify my results, I ran the drive using CrystalDisk Mark 6.0.
Sequential Read/Write - 116.8 MB/s & 109.8 MB/s
4KQ1 Read/Write - 0.385 MB/s & 0.617 MB/s
While the 4KQ1 numbers are alright for a laptop drive, it is easy to see why the drive was easily overwhelmed by the small reads and writes by the startup executables. Lastly, a quick copy test using my SanDisk Extreme Pro USB 3.0 flash drive, I was able to copy a 28.3 GB M2TS file averaging around 90-110 MB/s. Overall, I am pleased with the drive performance and its fairly quiet operation. In the future, a possible SSD upgrade is always a good option to have, but by no means is it absolutely necessary.
As for the battery, I wanted to see it how performs given a worst case scenario. I left all the power settings on high performance, along with the display brightness set to max and the keyboard backlight turned on. I started a 90 minute movie and maximized it to full screen. After 30 minutes, the battery was at 81%. At little over the hour mark, I noted that the battery was at 62%. At the end of the movie, it was at 46%. Overall, most will see a longer battery life, but this should give you an idea of the minimum battery life you should expect.
As somewhat of a music enthusiast, the sound quality of the laptop was actually quite good. I played my FLAC collection over both the speakers and headphones. Instruments and vocals are crisp and clear as well as dialogue during the videos that I watched. At 50% volume, the laptop is really loud. For once, it was quite refreshing to have laptop that does not lack in sound. Granted, I would caution to keep your sound expectations reasonable as this will not produce earth shattering bass or replace your home theater. However, for laptop sound, most should be content with the sound.
The X360 IPS display was also a pleasant surprise while I was watching videos and managing my photos. The colors are fairly vibrant and had a decent contrast to it. During web browsing sessions, I found that text was sharp and legible, even more so than previous laptops. At first, I though the whites were a little washed out but my eyes quickly adjusted. As for the touch screen, during tablet mode, I found it responsive and extremely accurate even though I did not have a stylus for it. However, I do wish that HP would have included one. I also would have liked if HP would have included some sort of cover for the keyboard so that when you flip the unit over the keys are protected while using it as a tablet. Nonetheless, I do enjoy the ability to flip it over into a tablet.
In conclusion, the X360 has almost everything going for it and at its price point, I think almost everyone will be pleased. With the Ryzen 2500U and 8 GB of RAM, it has more than enough power to chew through all your demanding computational needs all the while remaining efficient with both its usage and power consumption. The CPU is a real winner. Although somewhat held back by HP's windows installation, it is easily fixable and afterwards my experience was both fast and smooth. Additionally, the display has gorgeous contrast and text was sharp. The touch screen was both responsive and the sound was both crisp and enjoyable. Overall, its premium feel and sleek aesthetics complete this highly recommended package.

I would recommend this to a friend

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nickcal

Tech Insider Network

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Top 500 Contributor

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4

A powerful, workhorse laptop

Posted 1 year ago

nickcal

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Top 500 Contributor

Even though I am partial to Apple computers, I do enjoy working with other operating systems on occasion. I'm particularly intrigued by the convertible laptops that can act as tablets or a laptop computer. This class of machine is typically more powerful than your typical tablet, which is the basis of its appeal to me.
My first impression of the HP Envy was good. It's a sleek-looking laptop and fits with the modern style that most companies are following. The color is called "Dark Ash Silver," which is similar to the Space Gray from Apple. It is a shade darker though. The next thing I noticed was the computer's weight. It weighs 4.74 pounds. This is almost a full pound more than the 15-inch MacBook Pro. It may not seem like much to most people, but when you are talking about portability and laptops, 1 pound is quite a lot. When I got the laptop opened up, I have to admit that it 'feels' bigger than my MacBook Pro, too. It almost feels like the difference between a 13-inch laptop and a 17-inch laptop. Weird right?
Set-up for the laptop was very easy. I turned it on and after I connected it to WiFi, Cortana took over and walked me through the entire set-up process. You are encouraged to connect the computer to an online Microsoft account. This is not mandatory to set-up the computer though. You can skip this step and just create a login ID for the computer without it being connected to the cloud. Once I was 100% connected and ready to start working, the Envy flew through the tasks I put before it. Most people might end up using this for standard office tasks and with a 1TB hard drive (7200 RPM -- it's not solid state) and 8GB of memory, you won't be disappointed with this laptop's performance.
The keyboard took a little getting used to for me. I think that's because it's a full-size keyboard with the number keypad included. That means that the main part of the keyboard is offset from the center of the screen. Therefore, I found myself mistyping quite a bit until I got used to the keyboard. The other thing I was really impressed with right off the bat was the screen. It's a full 1080P HD widescreen LED display. The screen is smooth and clear. It's also quite fragile. When I first received this laptop, I powered it on and connected it to my WiFi. At that particular time, I could not finish the set-up so I closed the lid with the protective fabric provided by HP. There were no wrinkles or folds when I closed the lid and the next time I opened it, I noticed a sizeable scratch on the screen. No one else had used the laptop so the only thing I can think of is that the fabric somehow caused the scratch. This was indeed disappointing considering that this is a convertible laptop and can also be used as a tablet. You would think a touchscreen laptop would have a more durable screen.
Switching to tablet mode is an automatic process. When you flip the keyboard around on its axis, the computer detects that it's been rotated around and asks you if you want to switch over to tablet mode or exit it if you are switching back to laptop mode. When you answer 'yes', the screen enters the full-screen mode for the tablet use. Even when you are in laptop mode, you have the option to still use the touchscreen and the other tablet features. Typing in tablet mode is easy. The on-screen keyboard is very responsive -- more so than even my 12-inch iPad Pro. This is one feature I really enjoy. At times, I actually felt as though I was typing faster in tablet mode than with the keyboard. I have two main concerns about using this particular laptop in tablet mode. First, even though I like typing with the on-screen keyboard, the screen tends to shake quite a bit. This is really unavoidable since the computer is as stable and locked in as it can be, but it's still something that bothered me a bit. The other issue I have is the sensitivity of the screen to scratches. Working on this computer in tablet mode concerns me because I feel that the screen could become easily damaged.
I like that this computer has 2 USB-A ports, an HDMI port, an SD card reader and a USB-C port. This makes for a very versatile laptop. Because it does have a standard USB port, I was able to connect a USB mouse quickly and easily so that I had maximum functionality.
The HP Envy x360 is a really great option for most types of users. It came pre-loaded with Microsoft Office (subscription required after trial) and a few other standard utility applications, but I think that this powerful laptop could handle other applications easily. I believe it could even handle being a design-driven laptop. It's great for presentations and a powerful workhorse.

I would recommend this to a friend

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stevefromtheburbs

Tech Insider Network

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Top 250 Contributor

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

5

HP has developed the ultimate lap/tab comp for all

Posted 1 year ago

stevefromtheburbs

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Top 250 Contributor

Okay, please know that I use a Windows Computer at work and a MacBook at home. I am often consulted as a source of good info when it comes to tech, both at work, and at home. Computers are something that I've found myself being asked about a lot, because there are so many choices and so many things you need to know so you don't get a dud.
To start with, this is a tablet AND a laptop, all in one very thin but sturdy package. Seriously, it doesn't get any better than this.
That said, I believe this is the perfect laptop/tablet for most everyone. If you are a heavy duty gamer, or need a Mac for work stuff, so be it. But for everyone else, there really is no nicer a laptop or tablet that I have tried.
HP computers are amazing anyway, and I've been using them for years; my love affair with HP started many years ago when I stumbled onto one of their netbooks - back when netbooks came to market. Everything since then has been great, it is just that this laptop has literally everything most everyone will ever want in a laptop.
Starting with the box, you'll be impressed. Then, when you see the computer and power supply, you'll be equally impressed. HP has stepped up their game so much. Then, once you power up the computer, you'll notice the very bright keyboard backlight. You'll see the large trackpad, something that you simply will realize is the down side of most windows laptops I've used. This one works flawlessly. Light touch, or press to mechanically click, it just works. Dry skin in winter, it just works.
You'll see no shortage of lights for what I feel are necessary items. The power button has a bright LED light on it. The mute speaker button (F6) also has the same. When you have it plugged in for charging, another light. HDD activity light, yep, that too. I cannot stress how important little lights are for things, like muting speakers.
Okay, for sound, you've got Bang & Olufsen. If you don't know what that is, you'll be surprised at the quality of the sound. If you do know, you won't be disappointed as they did a knock out job on sound.
HP has done their due diligence by adding some very nice features. Cool Sense monitors temperature and adjusts the fan accordingly. They have a stop assistant to stop the hard drive if it feels as if it is falling. They have a very cool HP Support Assistant program that allows you to check on updates for firmware and other things, do performance tests, and ask support questions. HP has delivered in ways I never thought possible.
This is the first Windows laptop that has had everything I have ever wanted, in one package. There have been no disappointments so far, and I don't expect any. The 15" screen blows me away everytime I see it - this is on par with the quality of MacBook. The keyboard, the backlight, the screen, the battery life, the numerous things like a decent trackpad lend themselves to something that is much more high end.
The hinges, I almost forgot, are top tier. They aren't going to break in a week like other convertible laptops that I've used in the past.
Remember, Best Buy has a great return policy. If you are not happy, simply return it. But for most people, absent of those who need a super high end machine, this will work well for you. Processing power is great, the 8GB of RAM is more than enough. The 1TB hard drive is fast enough to get you through, not quite as fast as an SSD, but I like having big hard drive space available.

I would recommend this to a friend

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Daniel

Tech Insider Network

Elite Member

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

3

Okay, But I Expected More From It

Posted 1 year ago

Daniel

Tech Insider Network

Elite Member

PROS:
- Ryzen 5 2500U is great for productivity
- Large display
- Full-sized keyboard with a numeric keypad
- Large, decent trackpad
- Windows Ink support (pen not included unfortunately)
- HDMI port, 2x USB-A 3.1 ports, SD card reader, and 1x USB-C (Gen 1) port
CONS:
- Even with Vega mobile, light gaming is really disappointing
- Battery life is considerably worse than advertised by HP
- Screen isn’t as bright as I would like
- Ships with a HDD rather than a SSD
- No indicator light for the number lock key
- Fan gets pretty loud while under load
I can't remember the last time I was this excited about a laptop release. To be honest, I'm not really excited that it's an Envy x360, it’s what’s inside the new Envy x360 that’s exciting: the Ryzen 5 2500U. This is one of the first laptops to come with the new Ryzen mobile processors. I've been a fan of AMD since I put together my first budget gaming PC back in 2007. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the Envy x360 model itself isn’t exciting on its own, but it’s not HP’s more premium (and more expensive) Spectre x360.
The biggest thing I was looking forward to the most was the performance from the new Ryzen 5. AMD has been showing off benchmark scores and other various performance measurements to compare the new Ryzen 7 and 5 to the Intel i7 and i5, and it looks very good for AMD. One thing I (unfortunately) overlooked about this Envy x360 was storage: it comes with a 1TB HDD. The slow physical drive is absolutely holding this laptop back. As soon as prices for SSDs comes back down, I’m replacing it right away. Most tasks I need for school/work run extremely well (even with the HDD).
AMD promoted that the Ryzen mobile chips with Vega mobile graphics was superior to their i5 and i7 counterpart’s integrated graphics, but that’s not saying much. I tried a couple Blizzard games I own, since they’re usually more CPU-intensive than GPU. Starcraft II on lowest settings is almost unplayable. Hearthstone is playable on low settings, but it doesn’t run great (I gave up and went back to playing it on my iPhone 7+). Even Portal (the first one) on the lowest settings is barely playable, and it came out in 2010! If you’re looking to play any games, I would recommend looking for a laptop with a dedicated GPU.
For a laptop rocking a 15.6” display, the dimensions aren’t that bad. It’s a little thicker than what I’m used to (switching from a thin ultrabook), but what surprised me was the weight. If you’re a student that carries your laptop everywhere in your bag, you’re going to to really notice the weight after a while. I won’t count the weight as a negative aspect of the laptop, since it is a 15” laptop and not advertised as an ultrabook.
The display isn’t my favorite, but it still looks good. It’s a 1080p IPS display, colors seem decent (I can’t measure how accurate the colors are), but the screen isn’t very bright. Even at 60%, it still feels pretty dim for the setting. I’m assuming this is to help improve battery life. After the Ryzen 5, the 15.6” display is the 2nd biggest reason I wanted this laptop. After using a 13.3” display for so long, I really wanted more screen space when working in Visual Studio, IntelliJ, or even just typing up documents in MS Word of Google Docs.
Moving on to the battery: I really expected (a lot) more out of it. HP’s website claims that you can get up to 11 hours out of a full charge, but I don’t see how anyone could realistically get that. On a typical day I run the screen at 60% brightness, keyboard light off, connected to WiFi, 3-5 Chrome tabs open, Outlook and Gmail in the background (responding to emails as they come in), working in either Visual Studio or IntelliJ, streaming music with bluetooth headphones (low volume), and I’m getting around 3.5 hours of battery life. This is nowhere near the “up to 11 hours” advertised. It’s a 15” laptop (not an ultrabook), so I wasn’t expecting too much, but I’m still a little disappointed. I keep my charger with me in my backpack when I leave the house, so I’m not too upset, but it might be a deal-breaker for others.
The keyboard is backlit and has a numeric keypad. The keys are decent quality with good travel for a laptop. The only thing that take some getting used to (switching from a smaller ultrabook at least) is that they numeric keypad shifts the keyboard over to the left, causing you to place your hands off-center when typing. One thing about the keyboard that bothers me more than it should is the number lock key: it doesn’t have an indicator light similar to the caps lock or mute keys. There’s no way to know if the number lock is on or off until you try to use the keypad. There is also a little bit of screen wobble when typing, but this is pretty common with 2-in-1s.
The trackpad is okay, it doesn’t use the Windows Precision drivers, but I haven’t felt the urge to try and install them. Palm rejection is really excellent, I can think of MAYBE two times the cursor moved around randomly as I was typing. It does support left and right clicks from the bottom left/right corners.
The speakers are just above the keyboard and sounds pretty good for a laptop. It has the Bang & Olufsen branding, and (IMO) sounds better than other laptop speakers. It’s really good for video calls, but I would still use headphones when listening to music or watching movies (especially outside of home, nobody wants to be that person in the coffee shop making everyone around them listen to their choice of music).
Tthe Envy x360 does support Windows Hello and it works very well. This is the first laptop I’ve ever owned that supports it, so it’s a new (to me) feature that I really love. Video quality is okay, it’s not the greatest but it’s not the worst either.
Overall, I like the Envy x360 for what I need for school/work, but it could be MUCH better. The HDD absolutely was a mistake by HP. This is one of the first laptops to showcase Ryzen mobile, why would they hold it back so much with a physical drive? The screen should be brighter, but that would probably make the bad battery life even worse. On the topic of the battery: I wouldn’t be as upset about it if HP didn’t post “up to 11 hours” on their website. I really expected more from Vega Mobile, but I don’t know how much of the blame goes to the HDD as well. I still like the keyboard, trackpad, and the inclusion of a numeric keypad (even if it doesn’t have an indicator light for num lock). I really like having a 15.6” display for working in Visual Studio, IntelliJ, and MS Office. However, it’s hard for me to recommend this laptop unless you have an SSD ready to install, don’t mind keeping the charger with you wherever you go, and have no plans to play any real games on it.

No, I would not recommend this to a friend

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tyGeo

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

5

Very good machine. Small tweaks make it better.

Posted 1 year ago

tyGeo

I was in the market for a new laptop for work. I spend a lot of time on my laptop when I'm on client sites and remote offices, but I don't spend a lot of time away from a power outlet. This is key as this laptop does have a shorter battery life than many in its size and class. I manage around 5.5 hours before I start looking for an outlet, but this is not a major issue for me, or likely anyone else looking for a 15" laptop.
Major strengths of this machine are the solid build quality, good size and stylish appearance. Speakers are better than most, but not the best I've heard. They are loud enough though which is nice, my last laptop was so quiet that I could barely hear it from 5 feet away. I know the screen gets bad reviews, but I haven't found it particularly bad at all. It doesn't quite match my 1440p LG ultrawide for color accuracy, but it is a lot better than the TN panels you find on a lot of other laptops in this price range. It may not be as bright as some, but if you typically work indoors then it will be fine. Definitely wouldn't want to use it on a patio in the sun, but I've never once used a laptop outdoors in the sun anyway.
The processor performance is quite good for a mobile chip. It easily outpaces the i7 6600u in my personal ultrabook (XPS 13). A little more than 8GB of RAM would have been nice, but again, this thing is $1000, solid aluminum and has a decent smattering of other parts. Do yourself a favor and do a fresh install of Windows with drivers directly from AMD. It solves a lot of little issues and only takes 20 minutes.
First thing I did when I got it home was tear it apart to replace the 7200rpm HDD with a SSD. As soon as I had the back off I stopped, dumbfounded. There on the left hand side (looking from the bottom with the hinge away from me) was an empty PCIe M.2 slot. I looked at the SATA SSD in my hand and quickly stuffed it back into its box. A quick trip to the computer parts store with Express in its name and I had myself a new NVMe drive. Disabled secure boot, wiped the factory HDD using the Windows installer and loaded up Win 10 on the M.2 drive. I can't believe this system supports two storage drives, very cool and very useful. A 128GB boot drive combined with a 1TB spinner makes for an excellent all around work laptop for very little extra money.
The keyboard is quite nice, backlit and decent feel. I hate the arrow keys, but I hate them on every laptop so that's just my own personal issue. I am on the fence with replace the right 'ctrl' key with a second |\ key. Works well for programming but kind of annoying for other purposes.
So yeah, decent machine and some small changes make it an absolute monster for productivity.

I would recommend this to a friend

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xKing

Tech Insider Network

Member

Top 1000 Contributor

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

5

Light weight, great performance!

Posted 1 year ago

xKing

Tech Insider Network

Member

Top 1000 Contributor

This is a very light and thin notebook. Enclosure is plastic all around, screen is magnetically held in the closed position. By default fan seems a bit noisy, but I've found that is due to HP Cool Sense being turned on, this feature reduces the enclosure temperature so it's comfortable to keep on the lap. With HP Cool Sense turned off - laptop will get hotter, but fan noise is not that noticeable. Screen can be folded all way back making laptop a big tablet which can be held in any position - screen image will automatically rotate as needed. Touch surface is pretty responsive and is a true multi-touch, I've used all 10 fingers and it recognised all touch points at the same time!
CPU performance - pretty impressive, my tests showed it on par with the Intel i7 Skylake processor, and with 8Gb of memory - it's a very powerful machine.
Keyboard is backlit (no intensity adjustment - it's either on or off) and comfortable, touchpad is very nice to the touch and recognizes up to 3 finger gestures.
Ports - HDMI, 2 USB 3.0, 1 USB-C, headphones jack, SD card reader - everything that is needed in everyday use.
Battery life - depends on what you are doing and screen brightness, heavy usage brings it down to 4 hours, light use like web browsing - up to 8 hours no problem!
Included charger is 65W variable input voltage, handy for international travel.
Upgradeability - back cover is easy to remove (3xT5 screws in the front and 4 Philips screws under the back rubber foot) and reveals a slot for PCIe SSD drive on the left and 2 memory slots under EMI shield. Notice the thick rubber pad around the hard drive - it's there to shock proof the hard drive. HP also uses an accelerometer to monitor laptops's position and will park the hard drive if laptop is moving too fast, protecting your data (HP 3D Drive Guard technology).
Overall - it would be a great choice for a student or someone who would travel a lot. I would definitely recommend adding a PCIe SSD drive to it though!

I would recommend this to a friend

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skylog

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Member

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4

Tremendous Value. Well-rounded Machine.

Posted 1 year ago

skylog

Tech Insider Network

Member

This HP Envy is great choice for people looking for a well-rounded laptop that checks all the boxes. In this mid-level class, it is hard to beat the value HP brings to the table with this laptop.
The machine looks good (a dark grey/black look with silver accents), is well-built, with sturdy construction, and feels good in the hand. It is a little “hefty,” if you are used to ultra-lights, but the weight is what I would consider normal for this type of machine, at least in the laptop configuration. When in tablet mode, the weight is noticeable, but for me is a non-issue. Despite any comment about the weight, it does come in at 0.8 inches thin. A nice form-factor. There is a full, backlit keyboard that has the smallest amount of flex, but has a nice feel and is easy to get used to. Somehow, there is also a number pad. It is amazing how much you miss the pad when it is gone. I am glad it is here.
The 15-inch IPS screen is 1080p, looks good, has nice contrast and colors, and scales well. There definitely is some light bleed, which is more noticeable in low light situations, but it is something that I don’t notice in daily use. The touchscreen works very well, in both laptop and tablet configurations. Tablet mode is achieved by simply flipping the screen over. The screen is quite responsive and does work with the Microsoft Surface Pen. At this price point, it is not included, which is understandable, but it is worth considering as it only enhances this laptop.
HP did some nice things performance-wise, using DDR4 (8GB), and choosing the Ryzen line from AMD (Ryzen 5). Unlike most of the AMD chips in the recent past, the Ryzen line performs rather well, and it shows in my use. I can run a few tasks at the same time, keep tabs open in my browser and not feel drag or slowdowns. Graphics-wise, the machine is good, about right, or better for this price point. You can play some games, but not the most intensive, and not at very high settings. Take note, the fan will really start moving when you do. Overall, I like what they did here. Perhaps 16GB of RAM would be preferred for future-proofing the machine, but 8GB is enough to get things done. The only change I would say is “needed” would be swapping out the mechanical hard drive for a SSD. It is great having 1TB of storage, but the drive is slow relative to a SSD, a little noisy and drags startup time quite high. No “instant on.” For many, perhaps this is not an issue, but as one who accustomed to SATA and even NVME SSD, this is the one real letdown I have with this machine. Luckily, a user upgrade can be done once you have the machine. That is added cost, and time, but it is nice to know it is at least an option. Perhaps in the future HP will make the change.
Given where it seems we are heading, it is nice to see that HP gives a nice selection of ports. There are 2 USB 3.0, 1 USB 3.1 (Type C), a headphone jack, a full-size SD card slot, a full-sized HDMI port and the power jack. A little of the past, the present and the future. Variety. Convenience. A great move on their part.
Whenever I’m on a laptop, sound is almost always an issue. As someone who loves music, I can say adding B&O to the equation made quite a difference. Sound quality, across the board, is rather good. Be it music, video, or games, the sound is crisp, quite loud and does not suffer much distortion. Granted, bass reproduction was not stellar, but it was nice and about all that can be expected from a laptop.
Lastly, as for battery-life, it seems to be hitting the typical marks, as I have been getting anywhere from 5 to 7 hours. That said, I need more time to get a true idea how this will hold up over time. Of course, it so very much depends on your use case. Work. Movies. Gaming. They will all drain the battery at different rates. I do not think there will be an issue here.
Ultimately, I really like this laptop. It may not have the best of any one thing, but it has many very good things. Put it all together, especially in this mid-level class, and it is a tremendous value. Those with a specific use case may want to look elsewhere, but for most people this would be a great choice. I personally have an issue with the hard drive choice, which is my only reason for a knock on my rating, but even with that caveat, I can easily recommend this laptop.

I would recommend this to a friend

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Vlad

Member

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

3

HP & AMD nice try

Posted 1 year ago

Vlad

Member

I was looking for a 15” laptop with a powerful CPU, quad-core in particular for the right price. This HP laptop caught my eye since it is one of the first to get this type of processor. It looks really good on paper but…
Let’s start on a positive note. It’s a well build machine with plenty of power and ports. The keyboard is fantastic, the track pad could have been better. The speakers are just ok and they lose sound quality above 70%, no bass. You can play most of the new games on low-- just look on YouTube. If you decide to buy it, you must put an SDD inside. Having an HDD in 2017 is kind of unacceptable, speed-wise 
Now the sad part.
The first thing that I noticed after changing the screen saver at home was that the display doesn’t blend the colors right. It almost looks like it displays the images in 16bit rather than 32bit. You can also notice this while playing videos on YouTube, especially in high resolution. I saw that this problem disappears after uninstalling the AMD drivers, but that makes the system lag, making it unusable.
The major downside to this laptop is its display. Seriously, HP should use screens that are able to reproduce proper colors. You get a dim display with washed colors that lacks saturation.
The day after I bought this laptop, I went to BestBuy to check out the colors on the model on display and other laptops just to make sure that it was not a problem with my particular laptop. I noticed that all the 15.6” FHD laptops from Dell and HP reproduce the colors in the same way. They had a 14” ASUS and 13.3” Dell, Lenovo and others that got accurate colors. Also, the 17.3” HP Envy x360 HP displayed accurate colors. Why is this a problem? Try working in Photoshop and editing some photos on this machine and you will see what I mean. I tried to calibrate the display and that is when AMD screwed up. I found it weird that AMD Software was missing some really important settings for adjusting the colors, saturation, etc. It looks like they are aware of the problem but haven’t found a fixed yet. This is really frustrating since I wanted to give AMD a try, but it looks like I need to go back to nVidia.
In conclusion, you get what you pay for-- $630 for a really powerful machine with mediocre color accuracy and not the brightest display. You can even consider this a budget gaming laptop. I hope that AMD is going to fix the drivers in the near future and I wish the display was better.
I’m still debating whether I should keep the laptop, but all in all, I’m disappointed.